About this site

November 27, 2017admin

Why permaculture with alchemy?

The title of this blog links permaculture with alchemy because permaculture is my way into alchemy, magic and the dreaming power of the Aeon Sophia. No doubt there are other ways, but for me, the daily challenges of living off-grid, creating and maintaining a garden through the (increasingly irregular) seasons and observing how nature works, learning what works and what doesn’t, keeps me focussed and grounded. I live in Gaia’s laboratory. So, this blog does not offer much information about permaculture per se, as I use permaculture methods (mixed with organic polyculture) to take me deeper into the Mystery of life. Getting to eat our own fruit and vegetables isn’t just an added bonus, it is a living reminder of the cycles of life and the physical relationship with our Planetary Animal Mother – it is right in your face mutual interaction – if your care to look at it that way.

However, although I use the terms alchemy and magic generously throughout this site, they do not denote a lack of scientific method. They are instead indicators of an approach that predates religious scientism and is based on the observation of natural phenomena within their context. My ‘experiments’, such as they are, have the lyrical character of an ongoing conversation with the Nature in which I am immersed and which is also immersed in me. I write about what I’m discovering and testing. I need to know the healing properties of plants and minerals, because I cannot use the (mostly fraudulent) medical system and so much of what is available on the internet is also false or incomplete. I need to know when the frost will come, so I can protect the garden. I need to learn how to call in the rain. Is this archaic wishful thinking, or living fully in the presence of Nature and using my imagination to discover what is real?

The Great Work of Alchemy refers to the completion stage of the Divine Experiment in which we find ourselves. I was very surprized when John Lash first mentioned handover of the Gaian Alchemy Course, within a few hours of our meeting in 2014. As the handover went through its various stages, I’ve become more immersed in ‘the work’, as well as Planetary Tantra and the Sophianic Narrative and my own process of self-actualization (for want of a better term) has unfolded in direct correlation with observation and practice. This is always how it works; the intense observation of natural phenomena, changes you and you also change it! But how does that work? What are the processes involved? Well, I don’t need to go into that here, thank the Goddess! John has already done all that work and describes all the processes and tools in exquisite detail in A Recreation of the Alchemy Mystery, that he taught as a 21 lesson course in Santa Fe in the mid 1980s. (A revised version of that course will be available on Nemeta shortly.) It is a vast and rich work and a great pleasure to read, but that is nothing like the thrill to be had from testing the concepts and putting them into practice in the manner of the alchemists of old, through experiments within my own body and senses, here in Gaia’s beautiful laboratory. That’s mostly what I write about here; discoveries and experiences in alchemy and magic. (See: Gaian Alchemy for more details.)

The aim of this site is to share what I’m learning about using the imagination for healing and regeneration, living as a fully functional human animal, participation in the Divine Experiment and, ultimately, co-creation with the designers of the experiment. I cover some pretty big topics (and some mundane ones) for the pleasure of sharing and because in expressing what I’m learning, I learn even more. (Yes – I confess: I am a dopamine junkie!) I would be delighted to think that anything on this site might inspire anyone to delve deeper into the Sophianic Mysteries.

About the author

Yolanda of Galicia

I escaped the rat race and I now live in the dreaming of the Aeon Sophia, in the beautiful countryside of Galicia, with my husband, dogs cats and chickens. We live off-grid, in a natural home we built, with our own water and energy supply and we grow much of our own fruit and vegetables.

It was never my aim to be self-sufficient, but the further I move away from civilization (by choice) the less attraction it holds for me and the more satisfaction I get from living a simple life. I am a sovereign human animal and a self-designated witch-healer-alchemist, and also a teacher.